When we string new wires through the house, telephone, cable, speakers and the like, it would be nice to be able to hide them. One trick is to remove the quarter round trim from the floorboards and if there is a space behind the rug or under the floor board, the wire can go into that space and t...
Every week on my TV show I would demonstrate a simple but useful tool, this time a very inexpensive but essential tool for all household electrical work. When you have what we call Lomax wire, that is regular household wire with the plastic sleeve, it is always a problem to strip off the plastic...
Frank is confused about series and parallel wiring. He wants to connect a small and a large baseboard heater to one thermostat and isn't sure how to go about it.Although physically the wires will run from the thermostat to one of the baseboards and then on to the other baseboard, the way they...
Installing a dimmer in place of a regular light switch is very simple. The one wire that the dimmer has that you will not find in the light switch is a green wire that is meant to go to "ground". You simply secure this wire under the head of one of the large grounding screws that are in the...
Dorian from Toronto, Ontario is looking for ways to hide wires that run along the kitchen wall.There are several products on the market, from vinyl to metal, that will encase surface wires, keeping them clean and safe. Most of them will accept any paint to help them blend into the wall. Unfortu...
My friend Keith the electrician from Accurate Electrical in Aurora, Ontario walked us through the installation of an outdoor outlet. Here are some interesting tips I picked up from him:On a brick wall, drill the wire hole and the screw anchor holes all on the face of one brick and not through...
Larry Gullins of G & G Electronics in Whitby, Ontario builds home theatres so we sought him out for some design recommendations.Locate the screen in the centre of a wall at the longest point in the room, not on the short side -- you need depth for the best effect. The best room shape is re...
Mat from Wellen, Ontario followed his buddy's instructions for wiring three lights together with a single switch on the other end of the room. They all came out dim.This is exactly why most provinces require you to get permits for electrical work, or even require licensed electricians for all...
I live in a basement suite and our lights and electrical outlets on one side of the suite blink and stutter a lot. We did have a flood thru the bathroom fan about 7 - 8 months ago and ever since that we have had the problem. The other thing we have noticed is when everything is blinking and s...
Kim changed her furnace thermostat, only to watch the wires all fall into the hollow wall as she unhooked the last one. What a job to get them back.
So she advises us to wrap the first loose wire around a pencil before unhooking the rest, that way they will stay on this side of the wall.
With t...
